Bokuden took a sip of tea as he and Satomi sat in silence, eyeing the missive from the Raikage’s office that laid unopened on the table. It had just arrived via one of the office’s couriers who explained that it was a mission, Bokuden’s first B rank mission to be specific. This was the moment he had been waiting for since he received his first mission as a shinobi, a chance to do real shinobi work and show what he was capable of. He understood that if the missive was sent directly to his house so early in the morning that it probably demanded immediate attention, but Bokuden couldn’t help but take a few moments to soak in the moment. First times only happen once after all.

Bokuden placed his teacup and the small plate that accompanied it back on the table and took one last moment to look at the unbroken Kage’s seal before picking the letter up off of the table. He took a kunai that he had been laying on the table previously and used it to carefully open the sealed envelope, taking care to avoid doing any damage to the actual document. Bokuden raised an eyebrow as he began to read the message inscribed on the unfolded letter. “A troll? Here near the village?” Bokuden thought to himself before folding the letter up once more and placing it into the inside breast pocket of his coat.

Without saying a word to Satomi Bokuden stood up from his seat and reached for his katana which was leaned up against the table, securing it to his waist before turning to face his partner. Her ears perked up in response, eagerly awaiting information on their mission. “We’re taking a trip outside of the village Satomi. Come on, I’ll explain on the way,” Bokuden said as he patted himself down making sure he had all of his equipment with him. Once Bokuden was certain he had what he needed the duo made their way out the door.

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Word Count: 344/1500

Bokuden wasted no time upon exiting his home and swiftly made a beeline to the city gates. Satomi followed suit silently, figuring that Bokuden would elaborate on the nature of the mission once they cleared the city gates. They raced across the village’s rooftops at full speed making excellent time to the gates which were on the opposite side of the city. Upon reaching the gate itself the duo ran out right passed the Kumo shinobi who were assigned to guard the gate. “They know who I am,” Bokuden thought to himself to justify not notifying the patrol of his exit of the village, “I’ll apologize when I get back, but I’m too fired up right now to wait for clearance.”

Once they stood a good distance outside of the village walls Bokuden came to an abrupt halt, causing Satomi to do the same. Satomi walked over to where he was standing and looked up at him before speaking. “Feel like telling me what the mission is now?” Satomi said in a snarky tone, “Or do we need to run around some more?”

Bokuden turned his head down to face Satomi and a smirk appeared on his face. “Now now, Satomi. No reason to get snippy,” Bokuden said with a smile, amused by his partner’s attitude. Bokuden raised his arm and pointed off into the densely forested mountain area off into the distance. “What we are looking is supposedly up in that forest. Feel like doing a little hunting?” Bokuden asked playfully.

Satomi tilted her head and responded with tinge of curiosity in her voice, “And what exactly are we hunting?”

“If you’re not up for it that’s okay. I’m not going to force you to go with me if you feel this mission is beyond your capabilities,” Bokuden answered, preying on Satomi’s prideful personality.

“Beyond my capabilities?!? Who do you think I am? Stop wasting time and let’s go. I can handle anything that you can!” Satomi snapped back, falling for Bokuden’s trick.

“Good, then you will have no problem with the troll we are hunting,” Bokuden exclaimed with a grin before taking off in the direction of the forested area.

“Wait, the WHAT?” Satomi yelled before stubbornly following Bokuden.

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Word Count: 725/1500

Bokuden and Satomi leapt from tree to tree as they scurried through the forest to the suspected location of the troll den. Upon spotting a small river running down the side of the mountain, Bokuden jumped down from the tree tops and landed beside the river bank. Bokuden took a knee and ran his hand across a blood stained patch of dirt, grabbing a torn piece of cloth in the process. Upon further examination Bokuden noted that the cloth was once part of a Kumogakure forehead protector and that the tears in the cloth were made by something with claws, big claws. “This is the location,” Bokuden said to Satomi reaching into the river and pulling out a scratched and dented Kumogakure plate, no doubt from the same headband as the cloth, “The attacks have all occurred near this river, with the most savage occurring within one mile of this location. If I were to hazard a guess I would say that we are close to the beast’s den. Bodies were recovered from this area maimed, but largely intact. These weren’t kills for feeding, they were territorial attacks. Stay alert, we don’t know how many there are or how close they are. This is their habitat and we have to work within the assumption that they might already know we are here.”

“Understood,” Satomi replied in a stern and almost military like manner, “But you forget that I’m a hunter as well. These are trolls, not shinobi. We’ll know when the beasts approach and we won’t need my heightened senses to do it.” The duo stood a few moment in silence, scanning the area and remaining alert for the smallest hint of incoming danger. If this troll was truly responsible for the attacks that it has been blamed for then it was capable of killing even experienced shinobi. This wouldn’t be a B rank mission if it wasn’t dangerous.

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Word Count: 1052/1500

Satomi’s ear twitched and she bared her teeth as she heard a violent thumping off in distance. “What is it, Satomi?” Bokuden immediately inquired upon noticing her reaction, his left hand placed on his katana.

Satomi stood in silence for a moment as she listened for the sound of those violent thumps, now seemingly drawing closer to their location. “Foot steps, big ones,” Satomi growled as she turned her body to face the direction of the incoming noise, “And it’s heading straight for us.”

Bokuden took a position right beside Satomi and faced the same direction as she was, now in a drawing stance. He gripped the handle of his katana gently, his wrist loose and able to move freely, in preparation for whatever was coming their way. The thumping sound was now audible even to Bokuden who narrowed his eyes at the sight of a group of birds fleeing all of the trees in the distance. Suddenly, the violent thumping came to an abrupt halt and complete silence seemed to blanket the forest. “Did it leave?” Bokuden whispered to Satomi, careful not to disrupt the silence around him.

“No…” Satomi answered in an ominous tone, never averting her gaze from the shrubbery before them that was obstructing their view. Then without warning a monstrous figure erupted from the forest with a thunderous roar and lunged right at the duo, swinging its enormous arms straight down into the ground. Bokuden and Satomi leapt out of the way in opposite directions, both sizing up their assailant and noticing the damage done to the ground that it struck.

“Scary. So this is our target then?” Bokuden called out to Satomi in a snarky manner.

“Yes, I recognize the scent from the cloth we found earlier,” Satomi answered, “Be careful Bokuden, it might be a mindless brute, but it is strong.” Satomi then activated her Humanoid Beast transformation jutsu and awaited Bokuden’s move.

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Word Count: 1385/1500

“You say that like I would consider even giving it the opportunity to hit me. Strong or not it is going to die here,” Bokuden said sternly before drawing both of his collapsible fuma shuriken and fastening wire to them. Each fuma shuriken had a fifty foot length of wire held in Bokuden’s hands and a twenty five foot length of wire connecting the two shuriken to one another. Bokuden threw each shuriken in the troll’s direction, but the troll itself was not the target. The shuriken flew past the troll before Bokuden pulled each of the wires in his hand, causing the shuriken to swing back around crossing behind the troll’s back. Once the wire that connected the weapons touched the troll the two fuma shuriken swung around its body like a tetherball pole, wrapping it in the razor sharp wire that dug into its flesh as it tightened with each revolution. Once the length of the wire was reached the two shuriken’s blades swung into the troll’s chest and back, causing it to let out another ferocious roar.

It struggled to free its arms which were bound by the wire, but only managed to harm itself further by causing the taut wire to cut into its flesh. Satomi charged at the restrained troll from behind, leaping into the air and performing a flying kick which landed cleanly into the side of the troll’s head. As the troll fell back from the force of the kick, the back of its skull was met by the end of Bokuden’s katana, piercing through and jutting out visibly on the other side through the troll’s wide gaping mouth. “See? That wasn’t so hard,” Bokuden said jokingly as he removed his sword from the beast’s head, wiping the blood off on the troll’s fur.

“So how do you propose we bring them proof that we killed a troll?” Satomi inquired, “I’m not carrying that thing.”

“We’ll just take its head. That should suffice for proof of our mission’s completion,” Bokuden replied, sheathing his katana once more, “Now let’s get this done and get out of here.”

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Word Count: 1753/1500